A north-east safety group is sponsoring 12 young individuals from Banff Academy to take part in a scheme to make them more award of the hazards on the roads.
The Banff and District Safety Group is funding pupils to take part in the Rrrrallye Youth Drive course at the Grampian Transport Museum in Alford in May.
The Rrrrallye Team work with Roadwise Driver Training to promote road safety to teens.
It aims to provide youngsters not yet driving to learn safe and considerate motorist habits.
To start the day, pupils are taken out by a driving instructor who speaks through the thought process behind every manoeuvre a driver makes, such as mirror checks, pedals, acceleration and live hazards.
In the second half of the session, the youngsters get behind the wheel on the track at the Transport Museum and get familiar with the control and performance of a vehicle.
Most years there are groups from Keith, Buckie and Huntly taking part, with donations from other organisations allowing for groups from Turriff, Banff, Macduff, Garioch and Elgin to also get involved.
Around 324 youngsters have taken part in the youth drive so far, with this being only the second time a Banff group has been funded.
Richard Menard, bus driver and chairman of the Banff and District Safety Group, believes a good grounding in road safety is essential to protect young drivers.
He said: “We’re funding 12 pupils aged 14 to 17 to do this course as it gives them a background on learning to drive.
“What we’re doing as the safety group is sponsoring them to take part in the Driving Rallye Course in May.
“Originally we only had half the amount of pupils so we’re letting kids recommended from the academy to go on the course with their parents there too.
“It’s a worthwhile thing and it’s great for them to have an opportunity to be shown what it expected of them as drivers.
“We thought it was such a good idea and hope to fund even more pupils in the future.”
Organiser Linda Harper said: “I started this as we wanted some way to get the local kids to drive safer, and sponsorships like this really help create good drivers in the area.”
